Letters

Data Dogfights: An Informed Comment

Sir – Although I agree with your leader on the information trade ("Data Dogfights", January 9^th), I lament your failure to highlight the irony of the European Union’s privacy directive. It is based on the idea that privacy is an inalienable right. This belief stems from Europe’s lingering fear, bred during the second world war, that dictatorial governments may re-emerge and misuse their authority to monitor citizens.

However, the directive requires that member nations establish government-operated information authorities to oversee the personal data of all citizens. One should not assume that governments will always misuse their power, but events such as the Holocaust remind us that malevolent leaders can misuse benevolent mechanisms. One can only hope that the directive is not a precursor to the disasters it was designed to prevent.

Justin Matlick
Center for Freedom and Technology
Pacific Research Institute
San Francisco

Justin Matlick is Director of the Center for Freedom in Technology at the Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy, a San Francisco think tank. He can be reached via e-mail at: jmatlick@pacificresearch.org